Interjet Targets $1 Billion IPO, Chairman Aleman Says

ABC Aerolineas SA, the operator of
low-cost Mexican airline Interjet, plans to raise as much as $1
billion in an initial public offering after backing away from
selling shares in 2011.

The owner of Mexico’s No. 2 airline by passengers expects
to sell stock after September, Chairman Miguel Aleman said today
in an interview in Mexico City. The company scrapped a planned
IPO in June 2011 after a slumping Mexican market and higher fuel
costs weakened investor demand.

ABC Aerolineas intends to sell as much as 25 percent of the
company in the IPO. The airline plans to triple its fleet size
to 111 aircraft by 2015 from the current 37, Aleman said.

“Obviously we’re not going to try to be part of the
Mexican stock exchange in order to sell a huge stake, or to get
just a little bit of money,” Aleman said. “I’d see a time
frame after the month of September, more or less.”

The company is expanding and adding routes as it forecasts
the country’s air-travel market will expand 50 percent over the
next six years as Mexico’s middle class grows, Aleman said.

Aleman said Interjet is discussing its IPO plans with two
banks, which he declined to identify as conversations are still
private.

Companies from billionaire Carlos Slim’s retail unit to a
Mexican Pepsi bottler are lining up to sell shares on Latin
America’s second-biggest stock market in 2013 after equity
issuers raised a record amount last year.